


Best of Chicago Winter

by july_v



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Chicago Blackhawks, Christmas fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-14
Updated: 2012-12-14
Packaged: 2017-11-21 03:50:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/593114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/july_v/pseuds/july_v
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Pat's fourth year of working at Chicago's Christmas market, but things turn out a little different this year, starting with the fact that he doesn't have to dress up as an elf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best of Chicago Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [khoshgeleh16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/khoshgeleh16/gifts).



It’s the end of November and cold in Chicago, the beginning of the Christmas season. Pat pulls the sleeves of his oversized hoodie over his hands in a vain effort to keep them warm. He really wishes he had his hat and gloves but they aren’t permitted as part of his uniform. At least, he keeps telling himself at times like these, his work attire also doesn’t include pointy ears and silly pointed shoes and too much green this year.

Freezing while selling chocolate and other candy is still preferable to freezing while being dressed up as Santa’s Elf and handing out candy to kids for free. It also comes with the added bonus of better payment, people not tugging at his curls to find out whether they are real or a wig. All in all, this year is a big step up from the last three. This is Patrick’s first year working for a candy store at Chicago’s Christmas market, instead of playing Santa’s elf for $8.25 an hour.

The job also gets more fun as the days go by and Pat gets to know the other people working at the Christmas market. There’s Abby, who works in the booth across from him, selling wooden toys. She always has a smile for him and and no shortage of barbs, but Pat really likes her. In the booth next to him are Seabs and Duncs, who are supposed to take turns selling nativity sets and tree ornaments. Most of the time, though, they’re both in the booth and Pat begins to wonder if one ever manages to go more than a few hours without the other. He kind of doubts it.

They’re the three he gets to know first, but six weeks is a long time. So as the time goes by Abby introduces him to Sharpy, her way-too-handsome husband who swings by every day with their baby girl. They’re sweet to watch, although Pat is sure it shouldn’t be possible to express your love with so many mean comments and still get the message across. It doesn’t take long for Pat to decide mini-Sharp is his favourite, mostly because she loves him without expressing it in the form of insults. Or using any words at all.

Next to Abby’s booth are a couple of guys from Sweden, selling toys, books of Swedish fairytales and ornaments. They mostly keep to themselves and Patrick thinks they’re almost as good looking as Sharpy. He wouldn’t admit it out loud though, because Sharpy is kind of scary like that and would either hurt Pat for calling someone prettier than him or just outright get rid of the competition using illegal methods.

Mostly there isn’t a lot of time to talk to them, because candy is always popular around Christmas and Pat just happens to work at one of the most popular stalls for candy. Pat still takes the time to sneak chocolate samples to all of his new friends and Seabs is especially grateful, to the point where Duncs doesn’t eat what Pat gives him, but passes it on to Seabs instead. After three weeks Pat is all but convinced that those two are just as married as Abby and Sharpy.

The days on the market are long, even if Pat doesn’t start work until three in the afternoon at most days. It starts getting dark early, but at least the market is brightly lit by the huge tree and the stalls and the snow that covers the rooftops and the ground by the beginning of December. Over time Pat gets better at keeping warm, between tips from the other vendors and the cups of mulled wine, which Samantha, the lady in the booth on his other side, graciously provides him with. In return he gives her discount on the candy she says she buys for her grandchildren but probably eats herself.

Things start settling into an easy rhythm ten days into the market. Pat gets in at three so Sarah can go and pick up her kid from school. He works until closing time at eight or nine and then closes up the stall. In between he sells insane amounts of chocolate, gingerbread gift tags, gift bags with candy and more chocolate. He has the occasional chat with his new friends and stealthily sips his mulled wine and piles on more layers to keep warm in the chilly Chicago weather.

Pat’s routine has barely started when it gets threatened again. It’s Pat’s twelfth day on the job when he first meets Johnny. He’s one of the security guys who walk around to ensure that everything is going smoothly and catch the occasional pick pocket. Up until then Hoss had come by every evening to check that Pat properly closed up his booth and sometimes he would spare a minute or two to chat with Pat during the day, too.

So when it’s time to close up, Pat hasn’t seen Hoss all day and there’s someone else; it just seems kind of weird. The guy walks up to him, completely ignoring Duncs and Seabs, who’re still trying to talk an old lady into buying one of their precious, handmade, hand-painted and for-some-other-reasons-really-special nativity sets, even though it’s past closing time. The new security guard just checks over the locks on Pat’s booth, making sure they’re properly closed and doesn’t even say a word until Pat offers him one of the leftover pieces of gingerbread gift tags he offers to all their customers.

“Uh... I don’t think I should,” he says, and Pat rolls his eyes.

“They’re good. And it’s still warm, so it’ll taste even better,” Pat informs him, waving the tongs he’s holding the gingerbread with in front of the tall man’s face. Pat is really glad he doesn’t have to lie to people about the quality of what he’s trying to sell them. The stuff he’s selling really tastes amazing and the look on the security guard’s face when he takes a bite shows that he can’t disagree.

“Thank you,” he says after swallowing. His cheeks are a splotchy red, probably from walking around in the cold for hours. Pat wonders if they would feel as cold as they look if he reached out to touch them.

“You’re welcome.” He smiles. “I’m Pat.” He offers him the hand that isn’t holding the tongs and Johnny shakes it.

“I’m Johnny,” he says, almost hesitant, like he isn’t sure if he should introduce himself.

“You’re here for Hoss, yeah? Is he okay?” Pat can’t help asking. It’s weird if the guy comes by every day and then suddenly he doesn’t. Pat is leaning against the doorframe of his booth, his eyes fixed on Johnny.

“Hossa? Oh, yes. He’s fine. But we traded shifts.” Johnny shifts a little. “I have to go,” he says after a moment of silence, and goes to help Samantha.

Pat is a little disappointed, but does his best to hide it by closing up the stall and finally pulling on his coat. He nicks a last piece of warm gingerbread and braves the frosty Chicago night to go home.

The next week is much the same. The only notable change, apart from Johnny replacing Hoss, is the little fanclub the Swedes have acquired. It’s not even a real club, just a few teenage girls and grown-up ladies who show up more often than they could possibly need to buy carved ornaments or stuffed moose. They gather in front of the booth, ask the two men behind the counter all kinds of questions and then look on with wide, curious eyes as Viktor and Niklas answer in slow, lightly accented English. Afterwards Viktor and Niklas get to wrap small metal or ceramic ornaments in layers of tissue paper and collect nice tips they totally didn’t earn.

Pat would be jealous if he weren’t doing such a good job himself. Sarah promised him a little pay raise and an extra Christmas gift if he kept up the good work. Pat isn’t even sure what he’s doing, really. He offers the customers bits of chocolate or gingerbread (he’s still convinced Sarah is a genius for coming up with edible gift tags) and cheerfully suggests gifts to every clueless customer that asks. He adds one of the sunshine candies to every bag he hands over the counter and gives one to every kid, too. Occasionally he’ll take one for himself, because they’re great. The sunshine candy tastes like lemon and is filled with sherbet powder that prickles on the tongue. Pat loves them maybe a little too much. He wonders idly whether it's possible to be/get addicted to candy. Signs point to yes.

Over time, Johnny warms up to him. He stays a little longer each time and eats whatever Pat offers him. A little over a week after meeting Johnny, Pat finds himself putting the best sample pieces aside for Johnny, because he looks even happier about them than Seabs does and Seabs gets twice as many as everyone else anyway. Pat feels weird about it for, until he catches Samantha sneaking Johnny cups of mulled wine. Well - it’s probably kiddy punch, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Apparently being friendly to Johnny translates into having a crush on him, if Duncs and Seabs are to be trusted. Pat highly doubts that, but assumes they know more about epic gay feelings than he ever will, so maybe they’re right. As soon as the two of them know, it’s only a matter of time until Abby and Sharpy find out. It’s a mess, but Pat does at least have to give them credit for not running straight to Johnny to share the story with him.

It means he’s got time to think it over. And that in turn means he stays awake almost all night, thinking. He doesn’t think he’s ever really had a crush on anyone before, so he’s not even sure how to tell if he has one on Johnny or not. Kissing him seems really appealing, and as far as Pat can tell Johnny is hiding a really nice body under his security uniform. But on the other hand he’s really quiet and kind of shy, the total opposite of Pat, and he’s never believed in that opposites attract bullshit. And he sure as hell wouldn’t say no to kissing Sharpy, so maybe that just means he’s easy for a pretty face.

He asks Abby for some help the next day, just about how she’d known she’s in love with Sharpy. Her answer doesn’t really help because it basically comes down to ‘I just knew and he was really hot’. His next little trip leads him to Duncs and Seabs, but it’s equally as unproductive as the last. Those two are even worse than Abby, mostly because they start by flat out denying they’re a couple.

Seabs breaks first, just like Pat expected. Seabs is the more normal one of the two and he’s already pretty weird. Duncs is worse, though, and Pat almost runs when he’s subjected to Duncs’s crazy stare, but he stands his ground. Much to Pat’s surprise, Duncs is the one who ends up telling him about their admittedly _epic_ love story.

It started in high school, when Duncs was the new kid in class and Seabs the nerdy guy who was surprisingly popular. He had smiled at Duncs, despite Duncs apparently looking ready to murder anyone who came near him, and that was pretty much that. Because Duncs hadn’t smiled back and just kept on ignoring everyone.

“He would just sit there in the back of the room glaring at everyone who happened to exist,” Seabs tells Pat with a fond smile, like it’s a nice memory rather than absolutely creepy.

Duncs grumbles in agreement and Pat sees him brush his fingers against Seabs’s sleeve, as though he’s trying to apologize. “But I had my reasons,” Duncs says.

“I know. And I told you I’m not mad.” Seabs takes Duncs’s hand and squeezes it until Duncs relaxes enough to smile at him.

“And how exactly did you get together if Duncs was acting like a serial killer?” Pat really needs some information here, because he doesn’t actually have a break so he doesn’t exactly have time for the cheesy bits.

It turns out that Duncs bailed Seabs out of a fight, which Seabs only got into in order to defend Duncs, who until that point hadn’t even managed to smile at him. In the course of the ensuing brawl Duncs had lost two of his teeth, and Brent gets a little caught up talking about how weird that felt when they kissed.

Pat decides to give them some space then, because he doesn’t have to watch them get all sappy-old-married-couple reminiscing fond memories on each other and also because he’s ostensibly there to work.

In the end, the main thing he takes away is that love works in mysterious ways, which means he’s no smarter than he was in the morning, only a little more mentally scarred. For a moment he considers asking Samantha, but she’s so old he’s sure things were different back in her day and honestly, he’s heard enough strange things to last him a lifetime. The Swedes are out of the question as well, just because Pat has this thing where he has trouble talking to ridiculously handsome people, with the exception of the Sharps apparently.

That leaves him right back where he started and a few days go by before he comes up with a plan of action. It’s about time, because Christmas is approaching faster than he would like and Christmas Eve is his last day at the market and god knows if he’d be able to find Johnny again in the wilds of Chicago.

It’s a week before the market is over when Pat starts hugging Johnny before he moves on to help Samantha close up. “See you tomorrow, Johnny,” he says, trying to discern whether or not hugging Johnny brings any notable emotional changes. Mostly Pat just can’t get the smile off his face afterwards. It seems like a really good sign, strange twisting feeling in his stomach notwithstanding. It only gets worse when Johnny smiles back.

Another three days after that he slips one of the sunshine candies into Johnny’s back pocket and grins at him when he pulls away. Johnny smiles back. It seems like he’s finally getting used to Pat’s outbursts of affection.

On the 23rd, the last day before the market is over, Johnny returns the hug, patting Pat’s back, although a little awkwardly. “Thank you, for the candy,” he says softly, just as Pat is slipping one into his pocket. Pat is glad his cheeks are already red from the cold or he would be blushing.

“You’re welcome,” Pat says, deciding his plan is good to go the next day. Johnny walks over to Samantha and waves at Pat over his shoulder as he goes.

It’s past five by the time Pat is ready to close up on Christmas eve and many of the other vendors have already left. Sarah called in to let him know she’d be late for picking up the key to the booth since something came up with her kid. Pat doesn’t really mind. He’s allowed to divide up the rest of the samples between his friends and Samantha gives them all some more mulled wine to cap off a fantastic but frantic six weeks. They all exchange gifts and Pat gives everyone a hug in the name of Christmas spirit.

It’s the first time this year that Patrick is really getting into the Christmas spirit for himself rather than just enjoying how happy it seems to make the people around him. At the same time, a sort of melancholy settles in his stomach.

Abby and Sharpy are the first to say their farewells after bullying everyone into forking over their contact info. To the surprise of precisely no one, Seabs and Duncs are sharing an apartment. They leave soon after that, talking about whether or not they feel like decorating their apartment for Christmas. It reminds Pat that his own place still shows no sign of the holidays, apart from the distinctly Christmas-y candy wrappers that are piling up on his coffee table and the kitchen counter.

Pat is left sitting in his stall with a thermos of mulled wine and bits of chocolate and gingerbread to watch a few pitiful snowflakes fall to the ground. It’ll be a white Christmas with the snow that’s been falling steadily over the last few days and Pat makes a mental note to take some time out of his busy day tomorrow to build a snowman, or a fort, or something. He can’t let all the precious white goodness go to waste.

“Hey...” Johnny pokes his head inside and catches Pat with a piece of chocolate melting between his lips, lost in thought.

Pat grins, chocolate on his chin and everything, because he can’t not. Johnny has snowflakes melting on his hat and cheeks and his nose looks painfully red, yet he’s smiling brightly at Pat. Pat swallows and wipes at his face with his white sleeve like the totally grown-up adult man he is. “Hey!”

He has a plan, only Johnny’s smile is a little distracting.

“I have something for you,” Pat says, completely abandoning his well laid plan, and picks up the small box that’s sitting on the counter next to him. He’d done his best to wrap it in paper with reindeer and snowflakes on it, but it still looks a bit rumpled. He even managed to tie bow around it, complete with one of Sarah’s gingerbread gift tags, Johnny’s name written on it in icing.

“More candy?” Johnny asks. He’s still mostly hidden by the wooden wall of the booth and it looks a little silly, like something out of a movie. It’s either a comedy or a romcom, but Pat isn’t sure which yet.

“Uh... yeah?” Pat hadn’t been able to stop himself from putting candy in the box. He works in a candy store and the stuff is delicious, you can’t blame him for wanting to share the awesome.

Johnny laughs at that and finally steps away from the wall so Pat can see the rest of him. “Great. I was going to ask you for some recommendations, but it seems I won’t have to.” He holds out a hand, offering Pat a small box of his own. “Since you seem to have a sweet tooth, I thought maybe you might like this.” His smile is almost shy. “You should probably open it today or it might spoil, I think.” Pat thinks he sounds shy.

Pat takes the box from him and hands Johnny’s gift over to him. “Thank you,” he says, genuinely touched. He really wasn’t expecting to get anything from Johnny, which makes it even better, and the feeling it creates in his gut is new.

“I also wanted to ask if maybe you’d like to go for a drink some time? Or maybe to a movie, if you like that better?” Johnny asks and it really sounds more like a question, as if he’s not sure he should be asking.

And there goes Pat’s perfectly laid plan.

“If the drink is hot chocolate,” Pat says without hesitation. He would go with Johnny right now, if it weren’t Christmas Eve and Johnny didn’t have to work.

“My shift is over. I just didn’t want to go without saying goodbye,” Johnny says, his eyes shifting from Pat’s face to the box in his hand and back. “So you know, as soon as you’re done here...”

So maybe Pat had said that out loud and it means he might not be spending Christmas Eve alone and he really wants to kiss him all of a sudden and he does in a rush of valor.

It’s easy, taking a step forward and pushing up onto his toes to press his lips against Johnny’s. The kiss is really nice, especially when Johnny’s gloved hand comes to rest against Pat’s neck and he lets out a soft, contented sigh. The whole thing lasts for about ten seconds until someone clears their throat behind Johnny, causing them to spring apart and nearly drop the presents they’re both still clutching.

“Merry Christmas to you both,” Sarah says with a warm smile.

Pat is sure it will be.

**Author's Note:**

> The gift Johnny gives Patrick is a muffin. (I feel that is relevant information.) Chicago really has a ['traditional German American Holiday Market'](http://www.christkindlmarket.com/en/) and this story is set there. The candy store Pat works for in the story was inspired by the store my sister works at and the Sunshine Candy is a real thing, as are the edible gift tags.


End file.
